Australia must be excluded from any say on Palestine

August 11, 2025

Two main points.

First, it is well past time that Australian media commentary about 7 October 2023 take into account what the Israeli media itself noted in 2024, that the so-called “Hannibal Directive” was issued to Israeli forces, resulting in hundreds of cannon shells and missiles fired from gunships and tanks, making it impossible to determine how many Israeli casualties on that day were inflicted by their own forces.

Second, it is important that the Australian Government be held accountable for its many-stranded elements of complicity in genocide, and be excluded completely from having any say or playing any role in international decisions relating to Palestine.

Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, has described the Australian Government’s position on Palestine as “pathetic”, and she has stated that if “Australia is not ready to recognise the state of Palestine”, it should have “nothing to say about the two-state solution [and] nothing to contribute with when it comes to the two-state solution”. She is correct.